You're Never Too Old To Be Young
by forestwife
Summary: AU 'The Sound of Drums' & 'Last of the Time Lords'. What if the Master hadn't made the Doctor older, but younger instead? Could the Earth still have been saved? Or would the Master finally have triumphed over the Doctor?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

AU 'The Sound of Drums'. What if the Master hadn't made the Doctor older, but younger instead?

You're Never Too Old To Be Young

Martha and Jack could only stare in horror as the Doctor flailed and screamed. Saxon had his 'laser' screwdriver pointed at him, but they didn't know what he was doing. He'd said something about Lazarus's experiments, about enhancing them. But it was only when he'd revealed that he had the Doctor's hand, that a look of dismay had crossed the Doctor's face as he realised what the Master was about to do.

But now, there was nothing that either Martha or Jack could do to help the Doctor. All they could do was watch.

Finally, Saxon put down his screwdriver, laughing sadistically, and the shape of the Doctor fell to the floor.

"Doctor!" Martha called, hurrying to his side. Jack did the same.

They both stopped in their tracks in shock at what they saw. Instead of the Doctor, with his big hair, manic grin and eyes that showed the sights of the universe, was a much smaller figure, a small boy.

The small boy was exactly where the Doctor had been. And he was struggling to sit up, the Doctor's clothes swamping his small form.

"Doctor?" Martha said again, more of a question this time.

The child looked at her. He looked about 6 or 7 years old, and while he still had big brown eyes as the Doctor had, his hair was a mass of angelic blonde curls. Martha looked at the boy's innocent face, but could see nothing of the Doctor there.

In the Doctor's eyes, you could see all the things he'd seen, the knowledge he had, the years he'd lived. But this child had none of that. He wasn't the Doctor. He may be who was the Doctor _was,_ but he wasn't the Doctor.

Jack had seen it too, but he had to ask, one more time, "Doctor?"

The boy turned away from Martha and looked at Jack, and asked, "What do you keep calling me that?"

Martha and Jack glanced at each other, "Because that's your name," Martha explained.

The boy giggled at her, "You're funny. That's not a name."

Martha caught sight of Jack's smirk, but resisted the urge to blurt out that that's what everyone's always trying to tell _him. _Instead, she asked, "So what is your name?"

"You can call me Theta."

Theta. So now they knew the Doctor's real name. Martha didn't understand why he didn't use it, there was nothing wrong with it. It was a little strange, but it wasn't that bad.

Still, as much as Martha and Jack would usually give an arm and a leg to learn more about the Doctor's mysterious past, it was unsurprising quite low on their priority list right now. Their main problem was that with the Doctor shrunk down to a kindergartener, they had no plan and no way to stop the Master from destroying the Earth.

At that moment, as if he'd known what the two humans were thinking, the Master strolled up to the three of them sitting on the floor and said, "Oh isn't he cute. I'd forgotten what he was like, but then, 900 years'll do that to your memory. Maybe I'll keep him instead of killing him."

To this, Martha instinctively pulled the D—Theta close to her and said fiercely, "You won't touch him."

But surprisingly, Theta didn't seem at all afraid of the Master, he merely stared up at him in wonder and said, "Why're you so old, Koshei?"

Jack, Martha and the Master all looked at the child Doctor in shock, amazed that he'd recognised the Master.

But Saxon soon recovered from his surprise and said offhandedly, "You can talk, you're older than me."

"No I'm not!"

The Master considered this, "Good point," he said, before continuing, "But you _were_."

Theta was confused by this, "What're you talking about, Koshei?"

But this seemed to make the Master very angry. "Stop. Calling. Me. That."

"But it's your name!" Theta protested.

"Not anymore," Saxon said, "I am the Master," he added with a bow and a flourish.

"That's a silly name," Theta said, not taking Saxon seriously, "You're not a Master of anything."

"Wanna bet?" the Master said, walking back up the stairs, "Come up here and see my domain."

Without hesitation, Theta pulled away from Martha and struggled to his feet. Hampered by the clothes that were now _far_ too big for him, he abandoned the trench coat, and his trousers. His shirt, which had fit him before, now looked like a nightshirt, reaching down past his knees.

Martha tried to protest against the Doctor going, knowing he was only going to see destruction. But as he always did, even when he was an adult, Theta ignored her, and walked up the stairs, pulling at the sleeves of the too big, pinstriped jacket as he went.

Looking out of the window of _the Valiant_, Theta stopped in his tracks, his innocent eyes widening at the sight.

"But that's Earth!" he exclaimed, "What're you doing to it?"

"I am _decimating _it…" the Master said with relish, "Ooh I do like that word."

"The others will stop you, you know."

Feigning ignorance, the Master said, "Hmm? I'm sorry, who?"

"The others. The Time Lords," Theta answered with conviction. And as he said it, Jack and Martha's hearts sank, knowing that the Master would have no qualms about telling the Doctor the truth.

Sure enough, the Master said, "See Theta, that's where you're wrong. A long time had passed since your time, over 900 years in fact," he informed the child. "It just so happens that there _are_ no others. You and me, we're the last."

"You're lying," Theta said, a quiver in his voice.

"Am I?" the Master said, then he cupped a hand to his ear and said, "Listen. What do you hear?"

Theta bit his lip for a second and frowned in confusion, "Nothing. But how--?"

"They're all dead, Theta."

"They can't be," Theta protested, backing away from the Master, his tears betraying his true thoughts.

"Blimey you were thick as a child," the Master said, before continuing slowly and loudly, "Get this through your skull. They. Are. All. Dead."

Tears were now running freely down Theta's face as he took several steps down the stairs, "My mother and father?" he asked, with a lot more composure than Martha thought she'd be capable of.

"Dead."

"My brothers and sisters?" Several more steps.

"Dead. And so are your, aunts, uncles, cousins, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and everyone else who came either before or after you," the Master listed, uncaring of the pain he was causing.

Martha however, was shaking with rage and shock. She knew that the Master hated the Doctor, but to say that to a child… it was just cruel and… monstrous. But she was also shaking at the revelation of just what the Doctor had lost. She'd always known he must've had a family and friends on his planet, how could he not have? But for some reason, the extent of the number he'd lost had never quite hit her. And she'd never known he'd had children, or grandchildren, it'd just never occurred to her.

She glanced at Jack, and saw that his fists were clenched and his jaw set. He was clearly ready to do some serious damage to the Master for this.

"So now you know," the Master said proudly as Theta reached Martha and Jack. "No one can stop me."

"I will."

The words were so quite, that even Martha, who was standing right next to Theta, almost missed them. But the Master heard.

"I'm sorry?" he laughed, "_You'll_ stop me?"

When Theta didn't say anything, he carried on, "Where 're you at? I've already won! You're six years old, you have no plan, no TARDIS and no help, apart from those two pathetic humans. How would _you_ stop _me_?"

"There's one thing you've forgotten," Theta said bravely. And as he did, Martha felt a small hand press something into hers, "Even if you are telling the truth about everything, I'm still smarter than you. I always was and always will be. Even over 900 years, that could not change."

As he spoke, and as the Master laughed hysterically in response, Martha looked down at the object in her hand. It was Jack's teleport thingy. Glancing up at Theta, she shot him a questioning look. But he only nodded and whispered, "Go."

Martha looked at Theta for a minute, and completely believed that he _was_ the Doctor. She could easily see how he could become the man she'd grown to love. He already had the bravery and the ego anyway. But she knew that he was still just a child, no matter how confident or clever he was.

But she also knew that she had to trust him. Child or not, he was all they had right now.

She activated the teleport, and as she appeared back on Earth, she prayed that she hadn't just abandoned the Doctor and Jack to a horrible fate.

"I'll be back," she whispered, making her promise right there, and started off across the field.

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A/N: What did you think? This was something that occurred to me as I was watching 'Sound of Drums', and it wouldn't go away until I wrote it! I know there're a lot of problems with this, like the Master's name (though I'm sure I read that somewhere…), what the Doctor was like as a child and what he'd act like. So I've improvised. I just figured that even as a kid, the Doctor must've been a smart cookie! (hope it's ok…)

I might write another part to this. It all depends on whether you guys _want_ more, and also on what happens in next weeks episode! Also, even if I do write more, it won't be for a while… I'm going on holiday on Fri (and will _miss_ Dr Who on Sat! must record) so I won't be back for a week and a bit, and then I'll have to write it…

Still, please review and tell me what you thought, and whether you'll want more!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

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It was Hell on Earth. That was the way that Martha thought you could aptly describe the situation on her homeworld.

Ever since that fateful day nearly a year ago, the Master had all but destroyed the planet. Whole cities and civilisations had been obliterated, landmarks wiped from the map. Millions had been murdered by whatever those sphere things were, and those who were left had all but lost hope.

In the face of the Master's master plan; to conquer the galaxy and create a new Gallifrey, the humans who were left could see no way out, no chance of freedom.

During the past year, Martha had travelled the Earth looking for help to help the Doctor and fight the Master. But everywhere she went, she would only find more hordes of desperate people too wrapped up in the day-to-day challenge of surviving to even consider fighting back against their tyrannical oppressor.

Nevertheless, she would tell them her story, tell them about the Doctor, and about all he'd done for them, about all the times he'd saved them, in the hopes that someone—anyone—would truly hear her words, and help her to help him.

But after her latest unsuccessful pledge in Russia, Martha felt that maybe it was time to return to London. Maybe someone there would listen.

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Meanwhile, nobody on the _Valiant_ was having much of a better time than the people on the surface. The Master was making everyone's lives hell.

The Jones Family had been put to work as the Master's personal servants, catering to his every whim. Jack had been chained up in one of the engine rooms, where he was tortured and killed regularly, for the Master's entertainment.

And the Doctor, or Theta as he now was, hadn't had it easy either. The Master seemed to have made it his mission to make the boy's life a waking nightmare, teasing and taunting him at every opportunity.

The only fortunate thing was that it seemed that even the Master wouldn't stoop so low as to inflict physical abuse on Theta. That was one of the only reasons that the Jones family were still complying with the Master. His treatment of the boy Doctor understandably enraged them. But they would have rebelled were it not for the fact that it would make Theta's life worse too.

And then there was the issue of Martha. The only advantage to their current position was that they were in close proximity to the Master and therefore heard every new piece of news relating to the now infamous Martha Jones.

And so it was.

And as it was, the Master was on top of the world, literally and figuratively. He was riding sky high and was extremely pleased with his new position in life. He made the most of it by doing what he loved best, surveying the destruction he was causing to this primitive world, and taunting his now miniaturised nemesis, the Doctor.

"Oh go and cry to Mummy," he said nastily to the boy, who was currently sniffling quietly in the corner. Then he paused in mock-thought and continued, "Oh that's right, you can't. She's _dead_!"

A muscle in Mrs Jones's jaw twitched as she clenched her teeth in anger, and on the other side of the room, Mr Jones tightened his hand into a fist, making it clear just what he wanted to do to the Master.

Only Theta seemed calmer. Well, him and Lucy anyway, but then the Master's wife rarely showed any emotions in front of her husband.

Theta turned his face up to the Master, tears running down his face, and said with a sob, "I hope you burn in Erebus, Koschei. You're evil."

But the Master just laughed manically, and Theta ran from the room.

The guards moved as if to follow the boy, but the Master waved them back, "Leave him. He's no threat and he's got nowhere to go. He'll be back."

So Theta got away and fled down the corridors of the _Valiant_. He knew that Koschei was right, he had nowhere to go, and there was nothing he could do. But there was one thing Koschei was wrong about, he was _not_ going back... or not voluntarily anyway.

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Jack let out a sigh of exhaustion as he was finally left alone. He wasn't sure how much longer he could take this. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month the Master tormented him, taking infinite pleasure in coming up with ever more imaginative ways to 'kill' him.

But even just as he allowed himself to relax, (as much as he could relax in his chains anyway) Jack heard a sound coming from near the ever-open door.

It wasn't loud, anyone else might've missed it. But years living on the run from the Time Agency and as a criminal had taught Jack always to know when he wasn't alone. And this was one of those times.

The scuffling sound came again, from just around the corner of the doorframe, followed by sniffling. Jack frowned, wondering who on Earth it could be. In the end, he called, "Who's there?"

The sound abruptly stopped at his words. Whoever it was had clearly thought themselves alone.

"C'mon. Come say hello," Jack continued, "I won't bite."

Nothing.

"Playing hard to get, are you?" Jack made one last effort.

This time though, there was a response. A small face peered hesitantly into the room, one which Jack instantly recognised. Even though he hadn't seen him for months and the boy had evidently grown a good deal since then, Jack never forgot a face. It was the Doctor, or rather, the child that the Doctor had become, Theta.

For a second, frustration and anger surged through Jack, the Doctor was supposed to be able to get them out of situations like this. He was the one who looked after them. That was what he did! But now, he was the useless one, stuck as a child with no clue of what was going on or how to stop it.

However, he quickly forced those feelings away, realising that now the Doctor was _his _responsibility for once and _he_ was the one who needed looking after. And who knew, maybe even as a child the Doctor would know something to help them.

"Hey there, Theta," he called, trying to sound friendly and non-threatening (not that he could act particularly threatening when he was chained to a wall). Then, seeing the boy's tear-streaked face, he asked, "What's up?"

"Nothing," the kid mumbled under his breath.

But Jack wasn't buying it. "Nah, come on, kid. You can't fool me. That is definitely not a nothing face, that's a something face, so spill it. What happened?"

But Theta resolutely said nothing, looking uneasily and slightly warily at Jack.

Something occurred to Jack, "Are you _afraid _of me?" he asked.

"No!" Theta protested emphatically, indignant almost.

"Then what is it?"

"You're…" Theta began, clearly struggling to find the right word "…wrong," he eventually decided.

Jack's heart sank. Evidently the Doctor hadn't been lying when he said it wasn't anything he had against Jack, that it was a gut feeling, something he couldn't control. Clearly that _was_ the case, seeing as Theta, who knew next to nothing about Jack's condition, still felt the same way about him.

And from the way that Theta was still looking at Jack as if he were about to grow an extra head, the ex-time agent figured that he'd better say something.

"You're right," he admitted, "There is something a bit... wrong with me. I used to just be a normal little human being, although I am a lot more good-looking than most, but now... something happened to me, and now I'm immortal."

Theta's eyes widened.

"Yeah," Jack said, nodding, having seen the boy's reaction, "I can't die. That's what's wrong... But it's not my fault, and I would change it if I could. And, I would never do anything to hurt you, ok?"

"You're telling the truth," Theta said, wonder in his voice.

"Yes I am, kiddo," Jack agreed, "So, friends?"

Theta nodded, a small smile on his face.

Silence fell.

"So..." Jack said, drawing out the word, "How're you holding up? You ok?"

"Yes," Theta replied, "Koschei tries to make me cry by talking about my family, and how they're... dead. And it does hurt, I miss them a lot... especially my mother, but..." he sighed, holding back tears, "I'll see them again."

Jack hesitated, he knew that asking Theta questions was taking advantage of the Doctor's situation, but he was just so curious. When he was himself, the Doctor had never voluntarily talked about his family, in fact he'd never even mentioned that he _had_ a family.

"Tell me about them?" he asked eventually. But when Theta hesitated, he added, "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"It's alright," Theta answered, sitting down on the floor in front of Jack. Then he paused for a minute. "We weren't anything important on my planet. We weren't rich or important. I used to get teased at school because my father was poorer than theirs... But I don't care about any of that anymore... I had three brothers and two sisters, and they were all bigger than me, I was the youngest. They used to pick on me and tease me, but I think they quite liked me really. Mama used to tell them they had to take me with them whenever they went to town or something, but they never would. I didn't mind though, I would stay at home with Mama and we'd make Jaelberry Kalesh... The only good thing about having big brothers was that the bigger boys at school would leave me alone, and—"

Without warning and for no apparent reason, Theta jerked his head around to face the door. Then, turning back to Jack, he asked excitedly, "Did you hear it?"

"Hear _what_?!" Jack asked, having no idea what Theta was talking about.

"The whispering."

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A/N: Yes, I have finally updated! Please, nobody die of shock!

Obviously there's going to be a little more of this, and I _was_ going to do it all as one chapter, but I figured that you'd prefer 2 shorter chapters now rather than one longer one later, am I right?

Anyways, inevitably there are probably problems with this, as I am re-writing a Dr Who episode written by far better writers than me, but what can I say, I do my best!

So please review, and I'll do my best not to take quite so long with the next (and probably final) chapter... but I'm not making any promises!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

_Without warning and for no apparent reason, Theta jerked his head around to face the door. Then, turning back to Jack, he asked excitedly, "Did you hear it?"_

"_Hear what?!" Jack asked, having no idea what Theta was talking about._

"_The whispering."_

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Whispers? Jack may have heard many things on this ship, but whispering was _not_ one of them. He glanced at Theta, worried that maybe being reversed to this age had somehow damaged the Doctor's ears… or maybe his brain. "Are you sure you didn't imagine it?"

"Yes I'm sure! I heard it! I know I heard it." Theta protested adamantly, glaring at Jack. "It's like… I don't know. But it's weak and it's calling for help."

"I'm going to see what it is," Theta announced, bouncing to his feet in a very Doctor-like way. Then, when he was nearly at the door, he turned back to Jack. "Aren't you coming?"

"Well, I'm a little tied up at the moment," Jack answered, rattling his chains and looking pointedly at where they were cuffed to his wrists.

"Oh," Theta said, sounding disappointed. He wandered back over to Jack and tugged ineffectively against the chains. "Can't you get out of them somehow?" he asked, plaintively.

Jack looked up at where the chains attached to the walls. Maybe there was a possibility that he could yanks them out. "Stand back," he said, and waited for the boy to get to a safe distance. The last thing he wanted was for him to succeed, a chain to whip away from the wall, and hit Theta, injuring him.

Jack grasped a chain in each hand, so as not to further injure his wrists, and pulled as hard as he possibly could against them, straining his muscles for all he was worth.

Eventually he gave up, panting for breath. He looked at the chain hopelessly and commented, "I assume the Master took the sonic screwdriver away from you."

"The what?" Theta asked, his blue eyes full of innocent curiosity.

"The—it's a—never mind. But I just meant that the master must've emptied your pockets," Jack said, gesturing as best he could to Theta's too-big jacket.

"No," Theta said simply.

"What?"

"No. Koschei didn't take anything away from me," Theta repeated.

Jack stared at the boy. Surely the Master couldn't be that stupid as not to take the sonic screwdriver away from the Doctor? Then again, as the time agent thought about it, the Master could be astoundingly self-obsessed, and in his arrogance he could have easily forgotten about all the little things that the Doctor had besides his brilliant mind (which the Master as good as _had_ taken away from him).

"Well ok then," Jack said, a little flustered from surprise, "Check your pockets for the sonic screwdriver. It's a thin metal tube about the size of a pen, with a blue light on the end."

After much rummaging through his pockets, Theta eventually found the sonic screwdriver and with only a slight hesitation, handed it over to Jack. Jack took it gratefully and undid all the chains restraining him, all the while wondering why the Doctor had so much _crap_ in his pockets!

Finally free, and rubbing his sore, raw wrists, Jack walked to the door where Theta was now standing and handed the sonic screwdriver back to him. "So, where's this whispering coming from then?" he asked. He wasn't entirely sure that this was what he wanted to do with his newfound and almost definitely temporary freedom, but he knew that even if he refused to go and investigate with Theta then the boy would go by himself anyway, and Jack felt a certain amount of responsibility for the young Doctor than to let him do that.

Theta paused for a moment, apparently listening, and pointed down the corridor to their left, "This way."

And so they set off.

A minute later Jack was very surprised when he felt a much smaller hand slipping into his own. He glanced down at Theta, but the boy didn't look at him, just carried on looking ahead down the corridor. Jack said nothing and merely held the boy's hand. It just showed that Theta was more afraid of this ship and whatever might be on it than he was of Jack, and the ex-con man wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

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Meanwhile, the Master was becoming impatient. He had expected the Doctor to have come back by now, the coward that he was as a child.

He snapped his fingers and said, "Hey, you," to one of the guards, "Go and find the boy and bring him back here. He has a visitor to see him."

The guard went immediately.

Ignoring the disapproving stares he knew he was getting from the Jones family, one of them in particular, the Master went back to staring at the Earth, where everything was just as he wanted it.

He turned to the girl kneeling on the floor, hands tied behind her back, and said, "It's good to be King, isn't it?"

Martha Jones glared.

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They'd been walking for at least 10 minutes, twisting and turning around the corridors of _the Valiant_, and Jack was just about to suggest that maybe they give up, when Theta stopped outside one of the doors.

"This one," he said, and opened the door and went in.

Jack followed Theta into the room just in time to hear the boy say in wonder, "It's a TARDIS," staring at the familiar blue box that Jack had come to know and love, and maybe even think of a little as home.

He laughed in delight and said, "It's not just any TARDIS, it's _your _TARDIS! Oh, Theta, you're a genius!"

Theta smiled shyly, clearly pleased at the enthusiastic praise he was receiving.

However, all three hearts in the room dropped when several of the 'toclafane' appeared, right between them and the TARDIS.

"Oh hell no!" Jack exclaimed, glancing at the floating spheres in front of him, and then at the small boy next to him. How was he supposed to protect Theta from these things? Especially when they got out their slicing knives...

As if reading his thoughts, the 'toclafane' each unfurled several long, thin and extremely sharp blades and started sweeping them around menacingly.

Jack glanced again at Theta, ready to leap in front of him at the slightest movement from the spheres that for now weren't coming any closer. He just really hoped that until he could think of something, that Theta would keep it together. He couldn't deal with a hysterical child on top of everything else.

But amazingly, Theta didn't look too afraid. His hand had reached up to grasp tightly at Jack's, and his eyes were slightly wider than before, but if anything, he looked more curious than afraid.

"Why're you doing that?" he asked, in a clear, calm voice, before Jack could shush him.

But to the time agent's surprise (and great relief), the creatures didn't immediately swoop down on them, instead they answered Theta's question. "The Master commands that we protect the paradox machine," they said in unison.

"But why are you?" Theta persisted.

"The Master commands it," the toclafane repeated.

"Why do you listen?"

"Because he is the Master."

"Why is _he_ the master?" Theta asked.

"He has the paradox machine."

"No he doesn't. You do," the boy pointed out.

But the toclafane held firm, "But he is the Master."

"Why should he be the Master?" Theta argued, "You're the ones doing all the work. That doesn't sound like much fun."

To this, the toclafane said nothing, foiled by the logic of a child.

Jack wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't very well gag Theta, and he couldn't get him to stop in his persistent questioning of the murderous spheres in front of them. But he also didn't think that it was a good idea to annoy them, given what they were capable of.

"Wouldn't _you_ rather be the masters?" Theta continued, and Jack had to concede that he _was_ being rather persuasive.

Again, for a moment, the toclafane said nothing. Then they began murmuring, and Jack felt as if he were only hear half the conversation. He supposed they had some sort of communication system between them.

"_We_ could be the Masters… he has no hold on us… we have the paradox machine…"

Oh yeah, this was good, Jack thought as he and Theta watched the deliberation. If the Master no longer had these balls of death watching his back, then he'd be a _lot _less formidable, in fact, he'd be almost laughable. But then again, Jack had to worry about what the toclafane would do if they did betray the Master. Would they leave? Or would they go on a murderous rampage? Nothing was certain.

"It is decided," the few in the room said in unison, their childlike voices so at odds with what they were saying, "We are the Masters. We will fly and slice and burn."

Damnit.

Jack backed away slightly, standing slightly in front of Theta. This was not good. "Hey, easy on the slicing there," he said genially, with a nervous laugh.

Then, when the toclafane said nothing, he looked at the swiping, shining and very sharp blades in front of him and muttered to himself, "Guns. I knew I shoulda brought guns."

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A/N: Yes, I know, I've done it again... This was supposed to be the last chapter... and I've gone and split it again... I'm sorry!

Anyways, yes, definitely (well... almost definitely) only one more chapter to go which is... so far 400 words long, and all in incoherent notes... damnit.

And I have a feeling there are a lot of mistakes in this chapter, but that's ok. I have a whole list of excuses!! Firstly, I'm ill (and I never get ill!! sniffle) Secondly, my flatmates music is STILL blaring... and thirdly... lectures (that says it all, doesn't it?!)

So, please review!! (it'll cheer me up greatly!)


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

_Previously..._

_Then, when the __toclafane__ said nothing, he looked at the swiping, shining and very sharp blades in front of him and muttered to himself, "Guns. I knew I __shoulda__ brought guns."_

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As he heard the yell of 'freeze!' from behind him, Jack Harkness wondered, and not for the first time, what he'd done wrong in a past life.

He thought it must have been something terrible, because it seemed that every time things were going well, whether it was his time as a time agent, his time travelling with the Doctor, or his time with Torchwood – _every_ time things were looking up, something came along and ruined it. With the Time Agency he suddenly lost two years of his memories, with the Doctor, he died and was left behind, then with Torchwood, the Doctor shows up again, shortly followed by the Master and his damn torture. And now this!!!

Apparently it wasn't enough that he was facing several psychotic homicidal basketballs.

He'd been in the process of thinking of a plan to get out of there with Theta unharmed, when two guards had burst through the door behind him, guns raised.

"Put your hands in the air and turn around!"

Jack didn't move. What should he do? If he didn't turn around then it was highly likely that the guards would shoot him, but if he did... well, Jack didn't really fancy turning his back on the sharp blades that were still swiping through the air in front of him.

"Do as he says, Theta," he muttered to the boy next to him. Then at least _he_ wouldn't get shot.

"Sir, we have orders to shoot if you don't comply," one of the guards warned.

Now Jack was really beginning to panic. If he was shot, it would take a little while for him to wake up, and in that time the Toclafane could kill the child Doctor and be on their merry way before he even began to stir. But then if he turned his back on the creatures and was killed that way, then he'd be no help to Theta either. What was he to do?

"Look," he said, "I really don't want to turn my back on the killing machine in front of me."

"They won't hurt you," one of the guards said, scathingly, "They follow the Master's orders."

_Not any more,_ Jack thought. Theta had seen to that, and as fond as he was of the kid, he had to admit that just as he did as an adult, the child Doctor seemed to have a knack for getting them into trouble... and life-threatening situations.

"We don't want to shoot you, mate," the other guard said – the one who definitely sounded more sympathetic and less trigger-happy, "But—"

Jack heard no more. Burning pain tore through his chest only a split second before he heard the crack of the bullet leaving the gun. He looked down and saw the hole where the bullet had exited his body, and the spreading blood, staining his already stained shirt. Theta's horrified scream was the last thing he heard before everything faded to darkness, with death temporarily taking him yet again.

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When Jack awoke, oxygen tearing back into his lungs, it was to find that Theta was miraculously unharmed. The boy was sitting beside him, tears in his eyes and a look of shock on his face.

"You alright?" Jack asked.

Theta nodded, and then whispered, "You're alive!"

Jack grinned and reassured him, "I told you, I _can't_ die."

Getting to his feet, Jack surveyed the room and found to his surprise that there were no Toclafane in sight, and that the two guards were standing by the door, one obviously uncomfortable, the other cockily still pointing his gun at Jack.

"Now get moving," the cocky one said, waving Jack through the door with his gun, "Unless you want another bullet."

Jack glared and said nothing. But then he obeyed the order, taking Theta's hand and leading the way through the door, wondering all the while about the mysterious disappearance of the creatures that he'd thought were about to kill them all for sure. Where had they gone? And more importantly, what were they going to do next?

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Jack and Theta were taken at gunpoint back to _the Valiant_'s main control deck. And Jack had no doubt that that was where the Master was, probably still prancing around telling everyone how powerful he was.

Sure enough, when they got there, the Master greeted them with a very sarcastic, "Captain, so nice of you to join us. Martha and I were just having a nice little chat, weren't we Martha?"

At the sound of Martha's name, Jack looked to where the Master was gesturing. His heart sank when he saw that he was telling the truth, and that Martha had indeed been captured. The girl looked up at him, and with his eyes he asked her the silent question, _Is there any help coming?_ But Martha just shook her head, barely perceptibly. They were on their own.

"Now," the Master said with a large degree of self-satisfaction, "You've all arrived here at a most opportune time. You will all bear witness to the start of a new age. The ships are complete and ready to begin in our conquest of the universe. Everyone across the stars will bow to me as their almighty leader!"

"You're insane," Jack said, wondering at how the Time Lord could possibly justify himself, even in the most twisted of logics.

"Perhaps," the Master conceded, almost amiably, "But then, no one gets to greatness by being ordinary or one of the crowd. Like you humans, all sheep, each following the other. In order to truly be legendary, there has to be a spark of insanity there."

"Or a whole forest fire's worth in your case," Jack mumbled, and fortunately this time the Master didn't hear.

He did however hear Francine who said scornfully, "That's ridiculous!"

"Is it?" he said, turning to her. Then he looked at Theta, then back at Martha and Jack and asked, "What about your precious Doctor then?"

"He was a legend wherever he went, amongst our people, even to the Daleks. He was the infamous 'Oncoming Storm'. Now you can't tell me that he isn't the slightest bit mad, can you?"

The Master, apparently satisfied that this example proved his point, nodded and turned away from Martha and Jack. Thinking about it, they had to admit that maybe the Master had a point about the Doctor. Obviously he had nowhere near the amount of screws loose as the Master did, but definitely was a bit... eccentric, to say the least. He came up with the craziest ideas that would kill anyone else who tried them and yet for him they worked like a charm. He had that grin that could only be described as manic. He could babble away about anything at about 90 miles per hour, and somehow manage to say absolutely nothing at all. And then there were his numerous other 'quirks', like his oral fixation for example.

No one contradicted the Master on the point of the Doctor's sanity.

"So," the Master said, bored of the conversation and looking for a change of topic. Then he spotted his favourite source of amusement... Theta. "So," he said again, approaching the boy, "You've been a very naughty boy today, haven't you?" he asked rhetorically, pinching Theta's ear and making him wince, "The launch of the ships is due to commence within hours, and you know how much I want you and your little friends to witness the start of my new empire, so you thought you'd ruin it for me, didn't you?!"

With his last accusation, the Master let go of Theta's ear. But as he moved away in relief that it was over, the grown Time Lord grabbed the boy's arm, twisting it behind his back. Theta cried out in pain, tears springing to his eyes.

Infuriated at this treatment of the young Doctor, Jack practically growled with rage, and the whole Jones family murmured angrily, Francine being far more vocal than the others.

"Shut up!" the Master roared at them. Then, turning back to the tearful Theta, he hissed, "Now, if you don't do what you're told in the future like a good boy, then you will not like the consequences! Understand?"

Theta nodded in earnest, his bright blue eyes wide, and his face stained with tears.

The Master smiled, a cold, cruel smile that no one liked, and said, "Good." Then he let go of Theta's arm, thereby dropping the boy to the floor.

Immediately Theta put as much space as he could between himself and the Master. He scrambled straight over to Mrs Jones, who immediately sought to comfort the child. It was at this point that Martha realised just how much she'd missed when she was away. The last time she'd seen her mother and the Doctor together, she'd slapped him in the face! And here she was taking care of him? How times changed, and how much of a difference it was when the Doctor was only a boy who needed just as much protection as everyone else.

Unfortunately though, the Master noticed these actions, and given the bad mood he was in already, it didn't make things any better...

"Leave him alone," he ordered Mrs Jones.

"Oh come off it!" Mr Jones protested, gesturing at Theta who was now in Francine's arms, "He's only a boy for Heaven's sake!"

"No see, that's where you're wrong!" the Master proclaimed, "He's not a _boy_, he's not a _child_, in fact, he's not even _human_!"

For a second, no one said anything, and Jack and Martha even began to worry that the Jones family were taking the Master's words to heart. But then, a second later, Francine said coldly, "I don't see how that matters. He's still only a child, whether he's human or not."

Had Jack been near enough, he could have kissed her. "Exactly," he added, "and besides, whatever he is, Theta is still a damn sight more human than you."

"And thank heavens for that," the Master muttered.

Unfortunately for the Master however, Jack and Francine's little outbursts gave the others more courage. They all began to criticise the Master for his treatment of Theta.

All their voices ran over each other's, carrying on and on and on. Getting louder and louder and louder. It filled the Master's head just as the drumming did. The sound was beginning to close in on him, wherever he turned it was there. It had to stop.

Just managing to resist the almost irrepressible urge to cover his ears with his hands and scream, the Master shouted, "Stop!"

No one listened, and the Master knew it was time to take action. He grabbed Theta, who was now sitting on the floor a little in front of Francine, and dragged him to the middle of the floor.

"Enough!" the Master yelled. And this time, everyone listened when they saw what he was doing. The deranged dictator had gotten his laser screwdriver out, and had it pointed menacingly at Theta.

"Right then. You refuse to see him as anything other than a boy, then I'll _make_ him different! How old should I make him?" he asked, a sadistic and more than a little crazy smile on his face, "100 maybe? 200? 500? 900? Or shall I go the whole way and make him even older than he was before? Lets see how you'd pine over him then, Martha," he added, "Would you still love your precious _Doctor_ if he were an old man?"

No one dared move. No one dared breathe. But just when it seemed that all was lost, something caught their eyes from outside.

Looking from where they were standing through the windows, they could see a large black cloud getting closer.

"Ok, this is either really good, or really bad," Jack muttered, really hoping that the cloud was not what he suspected it was.

But today was not his lucky day.

The swarm of Toclafane surged towards _the Valiant_, going far faster than anyone on the ship would've liked.

"What the--?" the Master said, not believing what he was seeing.

"Oh God!" Francine cried, knowing as they all did, just what would happen when the swarm reached them.

"STOP!! What are you doing?!" the Master shouted, "I order you to stop!!"

The smug look that had become an almost permanent feature over the last year disappeared, and in it's place, horror appeared as the Master realised that he'd lost control of the Toclafane. "As your _Master,_ I _command _you to stop!!" he yelled in a last ditch effort to stop them. Then he turned to the others as he realised he was just as vulnerable as them in the face of this peril.

"We will fly and slice and burn," the Toclafane chanted, over and over again, "We will fly and slice and burn."

"There's no way to stop them!" Jack yelled. No one argued. Everyone knew what the Toclafane were capable of. The ex-time agent grabbed the Master by the front of his suit and barked, "Turn the Doctor back, NOW!!"

"I won't!" the Master hissed.

"We need the Doctor!" Martha shouted, "Change him back!"

"I refuse," the Master said, "I have won my victory over him, and the Earth, I won't let the Doctor ruin it!"

"Look, the Doctor is the only one who has even a chance of stopping this!" Martha shouted, infuriated, "So stop being so damn stupid! Do you _want _to die?!"

The Master hesitated. He glanced between the fast approaching swarm of deadly Toclafane and Theta, who was still sat on the floor, staring up at the Master with his big brown eyes. The Time Lord was clearly torn between wanting to reign it supreme over the Doctor (or at least the child he now was) and wanting to survive.

"Come on!" Martha yelled, all too aware of the peril they were all in.

The Master said nothing, but took his laser screwdriver out of his jacket pocket and pointed it at Theta. His face was cold and impassive, and he looked as if he were carrying out someone's death sentence. Martha shivered, and Theta shifted where he sat, a look of fear on his face.

Then, the Master flicked on his screwdriver, and Theta screwed up his face, bracing himself for whatever was coming.

He soon found out.

Again the Doctor screamed and flailed, but this time was made all the worse by the fact that it was a child's voice doing the screaming. Trish and Francine's hands went to their mouths, and Martha almost looked away. She hated that they had to put the Doctor through all this, but the fact was that they needed him... the world needed him.

Then, it was all over, and the Doctor, the proper Doctor, fully clad in his usual pinstriped suit, got to his feet. For a second he just stared at the Master with eyes as cold and hard as those of his nemesis.

Seeing the Doctor back to his old self, Martha didn't even try to stop the huge grin that spread across her face. However, her momentary joy faded when she saw again the black swarm headed right for them.

"Doctor!" she called, breaking the pair out of what she feared could become a fully fledged Time Lord staring contest, "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but we have a serious problem."

The Doctor looked away from the Master, glanced at Martha, and then followed her gaze to the windows. In that second, he saw exactly what she was talking about.

He sighed deeply, weariness in his entire posture, and murmured, "Hi ho, hi ho."

Then he was back into action. "Captain!" he yelled, "The paradox machine!"

Jack nodded. "You men! With me!" he yelled to several of the guards as he ran from the room.

Then the Doctor rushed to the controls, setting whatever shields and protective measures the Master had incorporated into the ship to maximum.

Then, knowing that Jack would get the job done, the Doctor turned to Martha. "Are you alright?" he asked, pulling her into a hug.

"I am now," she replied, holding tightly onto the man she hadn't seen for a whole year. She was almost afraid to let go, just in case this reversal wasn't permanent, and she didn't think she could deal with that again. Theta was very sweet and all, but Martha just couldn't relate him to the Doctor. In some ways, it was impossible to believe that the Time Lord had ever been that young. In other ways however, she had completely been able to see the Doctor in Theta, in how brave he was, how intelligent... and then she could also still see Theta in the Doctor, in that the Doctor did still act like a little kid sometimes, and _always_ seemed to have the attention span of one.

Finally letting go of him, Martha felt she should say something, to avert the danger of an awkward silence falling between them. As she tried to think of something, his words earlier came back to her. "Hi ho hi ho?" she said questioningly.

"What?" the Doctor was perplexed.

"Earlier, when I said we had a problem, you said 'hi ho hi ho', what were you on about?" she asked.

"Oh," the Doctor said, "Well, you know, 'it's off to work we go'? It's a... reference to... uh."

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?" Martha finished his sentence for him, smirking that the 'great Time Lord' was quoting a Disney film.

"Anyway, moving on," the Doctor said, clearing his throat. Again a serious expression graced his face as he turned back to the Master. "What are you going to do now, Koschei?" he asked quietly, showing in that use of his name that he remembered everything from the past year. "Without the paradox machine, everything will go back to how it was. This year will never have happened. No one besides us will remember your reign of terror on Earth."

The Master said nothing as the wind outside _the Valiant_ began to pick up, swirling by at an unnatural rate. Time was reversing...

_(A/N: everything from here happens as it did in the episode – the Master is shot etc __etc_

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Hours later, the Doctor grieved. He stood and watched as the flames consumed the funeral pyre of the Master, his greatest nemesis, his one time friend.

The aftermath of this adventure had been one he wished he didn't have to deal with, the consequences had just been too great. Now he was _definitely_ the last of the Time Lords, there was no one else. He truly was alone, just as he'd thought he was before.

He'd implored the Master to regenerate, begged even. It had only been a bullet wound, the regeneration would've been a simple one, unlike many of his own in the past. But the Master had refused, just to hurt him.

Trying to look on the brighter side, he'd gotten to know the Jones's a little better over the last year, even if they did only know him as a 6 year old. And because they'd known him as a child, all of them were still terribly protective of him, particularly Francine... It was nice, having someone care, but it was going to get annoying, he could tell. In fact, it already was, in a way. Francine was still insisting on calling him 'Theta' despite his arguments that he was 'the Doctor'. She just couldn't accept the fact that he'd left that name behind a long time ago...

However, another consequence of what happened for the past year was that Martha and Jack had both left him. Jack had gone back to his Torchwood team in Cardiff, ready to save the world again. And Martha had stayed behind to look after her family, something that the Doctor completely understood, but it didn't make leaving her any easier.

And so the Doctor was alone again. He'd cope, just like he'd always coped. He'd grin and bear it, put on a brave face so no one would see his suffering. Just as he would for the rest of his life. It was a standard pattern, and one he knew well by now; companions came, they said they'd stay with him forever, and then they left... It was inevitable, and he knew it would happen... Perhaps he was just destined to always be alone?

THE END

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A/N: Yeuch... I thought I'd never get this finished!!!! Hurrah!

Anyway, I'm not even going to start on this chapter, there are so many things I don't like about it! In my defence, I'm not the genius that the writers of the show clearly are, so trying to re-write it was damn near impossible. Also, I tried really hard to make this good, and spent one _hell_ of a long time in the attempt!!

So yeah, please please please review and tell me what you thought of the chapter, and the story in general! Reviews mean the world to me!


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